To Prep
Soak the glutinous rice and mung beans together for 24 hrs and then drain. Add Lee Kum Kee Chicken Bouillon Powder and oil, mix well. Split 1 salted egg yolk into 8 equal portions. Split the remaining ½ of a salted egg yolk into 8 small pieces (for garnishing).
Place pork into a bowl and mix in marinade ingredients. Whip the mixture in one direction until it is about to turn paste-like. Leave in refrigerator to marinate for 30 mins.
Divide the pork into 8 equal portions. Put ⅛ of a salted egg yolk into each portion and roll into a ball. Coat the ball with glutinous rice and mung beans then, add a small piece of egg yolk on top. Repeat with remaining pork portions.
Place the dumplings onto a plate and steam for 15–20 mins or until cooked. Sprinkle the diced spring onions and serve.
Rice
Rice Dumplings with Golden Oysters and Dried Scallops
To Cook
Marinate the pork belly with five spice powder overnight. Soak the glutinous rice and mung beans separately for 6 hrs. Soak dumpling leaves and wrapping straws in water for 2 hrs.
Drain glutinous rice and mung beans. Add half of the Lee Kum Kee Chicken Bouillon Powder into the glutinous rice, and the other half into the mung beans. Mix well.
Boil dumpling leaves and wrapping straws for 10 mins before use. Drain well and set aside.
Divide ingredients into two equal portions. Stack two bamboo leaves together and twist to form a funnel shape. Add a layer of glutinous rice, followed by a layer of mung beans. Top with pork belly, 2 golden oysters, dried scallops, 1 salted egg yolk, remaining mung beans and cover with another layer of glutinous rice. Fold the bamboo leaves to completely enclose the filling and form a pyramid shape. Tie securely with the straws. Repeat each step for the other dumpling.
5. Bring water to a boil in a large stock pot. Submerge the dumplings completely in water. Simmer on low heat for 3 hrs. Take off the heat. Keep covered for another 3 hrs. Then serve.
Braised Quails in Soy and Oyster Sauce
To Cook
Melt maltose in 80g hot water and mix thoroughly.
Heat some oil in a saucepan. Sauté ginger, spring onion and other spices until fragrant and put them in a reusable sachet bag. Put red yeast rice in another bag. Put both sachets into stock and add Lee Kum Kee Premium Soy Sauce, Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Sauce, Lee Kum Kee Chinese Marinade, sugar and Shaoxing wine. Simmer mixture over low heat for 40 mins.
Immerse quails in sauce mixture and braise over low heat for 20-30 mins. Remove quails and spread maltose on skin of quails evenly when hot. Cut quails into pieces. Serve with more sauce if desired.
Steamed Rice in Lotus Leaf
To Cook
Mix chicken with marinade. Heat oil in a pan and stir fry chicken until cooked. Add dried shrimps, barbecued pork and mushrooms. Stir fry for 2 mins.
Add rice and seasoning mix. Stir well until heated through.
Clean fresh lotus leaf and set aside. If using dried lotus leaf, soak in hot water until softened. Drain.
Place all stir fried ingredients on the lotus leaf and top with spring onions. Wrap. Steam the lotus leaf rice over high heat for 15 mins. Remove and cut open the lotus leaf. Serve hot.
Korean Rice Cakes (Songpyeon)
To Make the Filling
Grind the sesame seeds in a grinder or blender for about 20 secs. Then transfer ground sesame to a bowl and mix in ½ cup of brown sugar and a pinch of salt.
To Make the Dough
Prepare 3 cups of rice powder and sift into a large bowl.
Equally divide the rice powder into 3 bowls. Each bowl should now contain 1 cup of rice powder.
To prepare the basic white dough, add 3 tbsp boiling hot water to the rice powder and mix it with a spatula. When the dough is cool enough to handle, knead for about 5 mins, then wrap with cling film and set aside.
To prepare the green dough, add 1 tsp of ssukgaru (mugwort powder) and 3½ tbsp boiling hot water to the rice powder and mix it with a spatula. When the dough is cool enough to handle, knead for about 5 mins, then wrap with cling film and set aside.
To prepare the pink dough, add a pinch of strawberry Jell-o powder and 3 tbsp boiling hot water to the rice powder and mix it with a spatula. When the dough is cool enough to handle, knead for about 5 mins, then wrap with cling film and set aside.
To Assemble the Songpyeon
Cut off a piece of the dough and roll tightly between your palms in order to make a ball.
Press in to the ball with your thumb to stretch the dough slightly outwards and then use both of your thumbs to expand the opening.
Fill the well with ½ tsp of sesame filling, then seal tightly by squeezing the edges together. When the rice cake is sealed, shape them in to a half moon shape and set aside. Repeat until all the dough has been used.
To Cook
Prepare a steamer by bringing water to boil over high heat. Using pine needles or a damp kitchen cloth, line the bottom of the steamer to stop the rice cakes from sticking to the steamer.
When the water begins to boil, place the rice cakes on to the steamer ensuring that the pieces do not touch each other. Cover the rice cakes with a final, thin layer of pine needles if using.
Cover the steamer and let steam for about 20 mins.
Prepare a bowl of cold water and transfer the rice cakes in to the bowl when they’ve been cooked. Rinse the dumplings and then transfer to a rack to drain.
Lightly coat your hands with the sesame oil and use them to rub the oil on to the rice cakes.
To Serve
Serve immediately and while warm! Enjoy!
Nyonya Fried Rice
To Cook
In a wok, heat 1-2 tbsp cooking oil over medium-high heat. Pour in the egg mixture and stir constantly with a spatula. Keep stirring until eggs are cooked then dish out to set aside.
Heat 3-6 tbsp cooking oil and fry the prawns. When cooked, set aside.
Use the balance of the oil to saute the garlic, dried prawns, shallots and sambal belachan. Add the rice and fry at high heat, keep stirring to avoid burning the rice.
Add the salt, light soy sauce and dark soy sauce.
Add in the prawns, stir in, then dish.
Garnish with sliced omelette, diced spring onions and chilli.
Malaysian Glutinous Rice with Pandan Custard (Kuih Seri Muka)
To Prep
Take ½ of glutinous rice amount, soak for at least 4 hours or overnight. Do not cover.
Soak the blue pea flowers until the water turns blue. Use the blue water to soak the remaining ½ of glutinous rice for at least 4 hrs or overnight. Do not cover.
Line 2 baking pans with banana leaves.
To Make the Rice Layer
Mix the 300ml thin coconut milk and salt. Half the portion and mix each with the white and blue rice until well-combined.
Put the white and blue glutinous rice into the two baking pans separately and add the pandan leaves randomly between the rice.
Steam each portion over high heat until cooked, about 25 mins. Remove from heat and loosen with chopsticks.
Combine both portions of rice in a baking pan, make it flat and compact. Add the 100ml thin coconut milk and steam for 10 mins.
To Make the Custard Layer
Mix all ingredient and strain it. Cool over a double boiler until the custard slightly thickens yet able to pour through a sieve.
Remove the baking pan with rice from steamer and pour in the custard through a sieve. Cover loosely with foil to prevent water dripping on it. Steam for 30-40 mins over medium-low or until custard is firm.
Remove from heat and let cool while covered. Ready to serve when it drops to room temperature.
Moon-viewing Dumplings (Tsukimi Dango)
To Prep
Knead the rice flour while adding warm. The more you knead the dough, the chewier the dango will turn out to be.
Prepare and heat a bamboo steamer.
To Cook
Tear dough into several pieces, and place in steamer to steam on high for 20 mins until the dough centers are warm. Remove from steamer and allow to cool until temperature of dough is cool enough to handle.
Combine the pieces and knead until dough is springy and glossy. If the dough gets hard, add some water while kneading.
Divide the dough and roll into balls of 3-4cm in diameter.
Line a bamboo steamer with parchment paper to avoid the dango from sticking to the base of the steamer. Steam on high for 15 mins. Remove dango from heat, and set aside to cool. They will become glossy when cool.
To serve, arrange and stack dango to form a pyramid – as offering to the moon.
Indonesian Rice Pudding (Bubur Sumsum)
For the Palm Sugar Syrup:
Tear pandan leaf into strips and tie strips together in a knot. In a small saucepan, add pandan leaf, sugar and ¼ cup of water, and simmer to about 5 mins. Keep stirring until sugar is completely dissolved. Discard pandan leaf and pour syrup through a sieve into a bowl. Set aside to cool.
For the Bubur
In a mixing bowl, combine the coconut milk, rice flour and ½ tsp salt. Pour mixture through a fine sieve to get rid of lumps.
Place mixture in a non-stick saucepan, add pandan leaves and cook the mixture on low heat for about 15-20 mins. While cooking, stir constantly until the mixture thickens and start to boil. Remove from the heat and pour into serving bowls.
Combine the grated coconut and salt, and mix well.
To serve, top bubur sumsum with the salty shredded coconut and a drizzle of Palm Sugar Syrup.
Slow-cooked Pork Belly (Moo Sam Chun Tom Khem)
To Cook
In a large pot, stir-fry the coriander roots, garlic and white pepper with oil on medium heat until fragrant.
Add all the remaining ingredients except baby carrot and broccolini and bring to a boil.
Lower the heat, put a lid on and continue to cook for 25 mins.
Add carrot and broccolini, and continue to cook with the lid off for another 25 mins.
Serve with steamed rice.
Basic Congee
To Cook
Rinse and drain the rice to clean the grains and remove the excess starch. Repeat until the drained water is clear.
Transfer the rice in to a pot and top with 9 cups of water. Cover the pot with lid and heat over a high heat until the water reaches a boil.
At this point, reduce and let simmer while partially covered for at least 25-30 mins or until the congee has reached a thick and creamy consistency. If the congee becomes too thick, add water back in to the pot.
When the congee is at your desired level of consistency, remove from the heat and get ready to plate.
To Serve
Spoon some of the congee in to serving bowls. Garnish with sesame oil, green onions, ginger and yew char koay. Serve with soy sauce and white pepper on the side.
Minced Pork with Century Egg and Salted Egg Congee
To Prep
Rinse and drain the rice to clean the grains and remove the excess starch. Repeat until the drained water is clear. Set aside.
Make the garlic oil by combining the vegetable oil, sesame oil, and minced garlic in a small pan and heating over a low heat.
Continue to cook the garlic until they turn golden. Take care not to burn them as the oil will become bitter. Set aside.
In a bowl, combine the minced pork, soy sauce, ¼ tsp ground pepper and stir until well combine. Set aside and let marinate.
To Prep Salted Eggs
If salted eggs are coated in salted charcoal, thoroughly remove and clean the black substance. In a saucepan, boil the salted egg in water for 15 mins.
Drain the eggs and let cool slightly before removing the shells and then cutting in to small pieces.
To Prep Century Eggs
If century eggs are coated in a caustic mixture of mud and rice husk, clean thoroughly before cracking them open. Cut the eggs into small pieces and set aside.
To Cook
In a large pot, combine the rice with 10 cups of water and add the ginger in to the pot.
Cover the pot with lid and heat over a high heat until the water reaches a boil. At this point, reduce and let simmer while partially covered for at least 15-20 mins.
Transfer the marinated pork in to the pot and break the pork in to smaller chunks. Cook for 5 mins.
Add in the salted eggs, century eggs, salt, and the last of the pepper into the pot. Return to a simmer and continue to cook for another 10 mins or until the congee has reached a thick and creamy consistency. If the congee becomes too thick, add water back in to the pot.
When the congee is at your desired level of consistency, remove from the heat and get ready to plate.
To Serve
To serve, ladle congee into bowls. Garnish with the garlic oil, green onions and ginger.